Should Blair become Council President, the UK's prime-minister-in-waiting David Cameron – not a fan of the Lisbon Treaty – would be confronted with the delightful prospect of not only having a Labour commissioner in situ in Brussels, but being forced to sit with other EU leaders at meetings chaired by Tony Blair, the Conservatives 'arch-nemesis who annihilated his party in three consecutive elections.

A few summers ago I had the wonderful opportunity of seeing numerous Sèvres masterpieces in situ at Windsor Castle, and in other royal establishments, but right now the public can see a brilliantly cogent display of many of the best and rarest of these remarkable objects in the museum setting.

In human spaceflight NASA needs to focus its energy on human research, technology development and research specifically applicable for future space systems development, including in situ resource utilization, establishment of standards for safety and operation.